Right now in the Football Transfer Tavern, our resident Manchester United supporters are revelling in the current misery of our Liverpool counterparts who have to face an embarrassing FA Cup replay with League Two Exeter City tonight of course.
Add into the equation that United had just defeated Liverpool 0-1 at Anfield at the weekend, not to mention the fact that Simon Mignolet has penned a new contract with the Merseyside club and you can see why Red Devils fans are putting the boot in, letting off some steam after their bad mid-season run of results.
But back to United themselves, there is no sign of any new arrivals at Old Trafford at the moment and moving into the latter stages of the January transfer window now, we might not even get one new addition at all.
Of the players linked at the moment, they seem to be ridiculously tall orders in the form of both Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez and Everton’s Romelu Lukaku.
According to the article completed by The Independent today, United must fork out an eye-watering £65 million to land Lukaku while as for Rodriguez, a bid has reportedly been made although it appears unlikely Real will sanction the departure of the out-of-favour Colombian without having their own replacement lined up first.
It may not all been doom and gloom regarding these transfer targets however with the summer window looking like a far more realistic period in landing the duo with time running out this month.
Of course, a lot will depend on whether Manchester United can secure Champions League football for next season. Despite these moves being well, just rumours at the moment, we’ve still inserted the duo into a potential future Manchester United XI just to see how they’d fit in on paper.
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Click on the image below to reveal the dream Manchester United XI under Louis van Gaal including James Rodriguez & Romelu Lukaku.
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David De Gea
Surely the most consistent member of the Red Devils’ squad, Manchester United’s poor mid-season form can’t be put down to David De Gea who is so often seen putting in cracking saves to try and keep Louis van Gaal’s team in games.
With Sergio Romero starting the season between the sticks, the Argentine number one is considered a good goalkeeper but nothing on Spanish international De Gea.
We’re seeing just how important it is to have a top goalkeeper between the sticks given Petr Cech’s incredible form at Arsenal and with Liverpool boasting a below-par stopper in Simon Mignolet, you’d back Manchester United to claim a top four place but as for Liverpool, they may well fall short again.
Matteo Darmian
In and out of the team and seeking more of a regular first team berth when everybody is fit, Matteo Darmian has endured an average first season in English football.
Much akin to Luke Shaw’s first season at Old Trafford last term, the Italian international hasn’t been ridiculously poor but hasn’t necessarily been that great either.
With Ashley Young often appearing at either left back or right back this term, Darmian has sometimes been left out in favour of the former Aston Villa man and that can’t have been on his thoughts when he arrived in the summer.
What does stand in Darmian’s favour right now is that there isn’t too much other competition at right back with Antonio Valencia still out and Guillermo Varela still inexperienced despite doing well when called upon.
Chris Smalling
Chris Smalling must surely be one of Roy Hodgson’s starting centre back’s for England at Euro 2016 this summer after the Manchester United defender finally arrested claims of him being a flop this season.
Arguably the Red Devils’ second most consistent player after David De Gea, Smalling seems to have flourished since being given greater responsibility in the team and we’ve seen him captain United on several occasions now.
Building in stature and maturity at the back, the former Fulham man is one of the first names down on the team-sheet and Red Devils supporters will continue to hold hope that Phil Jones can follow his example whenever his injury troubles die down.
Daley Blind
Daley Blind is a player Louis van Gaal claimed it having a very good season after the Liverpool win last Sunday and it’s hard to disagree with this assessment from the Dutchman.
Having worked with van Gaal at the 2014 World Cup of course, Blind is clearly a player that respects van Gaal and so it is proving in his performances that have been incredibly consistent alongside Smalling.
We must remember that Blind spent much of his first season at Old Trafford in defensive midfield and it’s a mark of the player just how high he has kept his performances despite reverting to centre back.
Luke Shaw
Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo have had to deputise since Luke Shaw’s season ending injury but the overall feeling in the tavern is that Manchester United fans can’t wait to have the former Southampton man back.
Just starting to put in some performances that reminded everybody of him bursting onto the scene at St Mary’s Stadium, Shaw is still considered to be the answer to England’s left back slot long-term and Red Devils supporters here in the tavern are wishing him the speediest of recoveries.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Rival fans claim he’s been a bit of a flop given his stature yet some Manchester United fans claim he’s been solid.
Bastian Schweinsteiger hasn’t blown anybody away in his first full season outside German football but at the same time, his game isn’t based upon too much excitement.
Always keeping it simple in his career, for the most part, Schweinsteiger has been a mainstay in Louis van Gaal’s midfield who is clearly trusting his experience to get United through a difficult Premier League campaign in which they’ve hit the top, yet currently hover around the fourth to fifth place marks.
With Michael Carrick expected to be moving on in the summer, Schweinsteiger perhaps needs to remind more Red Devils fans of just how good he can be so that some of the doubters feel he doesn’t need replacing ahead of schedule.
Morgan Schneiderlin
Morgan Schneiderlin started the game against Liverpool on Sunday yet received a 6 out of 10 from the Manchester Evening News regarding his performance.
Unfortunately for United fans, too many of the French international’s performances have been around this mark in his first season at Old Trafford where it’s apparent that before, he was a big fish in a smaller pond at Southampton.
That said, Louis van Gaal should definitely persevere with his talent given the fact that Angel Di Maria seems to have improved since signing for Paris Saint-Germain.
As mentioned previously, Carrick will probably be moving on and who knows what the future holds for Marouane Fellaini so there is definitely still room for Schneiderlin to improve while remaining in this United team for the foreseeable future.
Juan Mata
Juan Mata was a constant thorn in Liverpool’s side last season, scoring three goals against the Redmen but the Spanish international couldn’t repeat the feat this season.
Scoring five goals in all competitions so far this season, it makes for pretty disappointing reading and this has been perpetuated by the fact that for the most part, Wayne Rooney hasn’t been at the level required either.
Given his experience and class, many United fans expect a bit more from Mata and the kind of performance that we saw down at Southampton where he ran the game earlier this campaign.
Wayne Rooney
He’s back folks, or at least so we think!
Wayne Rooney has stepped up to the plate when it’s really mattered in recent weeks with a last gasp penalty against Sheffield United to save any embarrassment, a brace away at Newcastle United and the match winner against the Red Devils’ favourite foes in Liverpool.
Manchester United fans would like to see Rooney go on and replicate this purple patch for the remainder of the season now to truly convince them that it’ll be no sweat for the top four this season.
For whatever reason, Rooney has struggled up until this point this term but his turnaround in form has been just what the doctor ordered.
James Rodriguez
So The Independent are claiming that Manchester United have submitted a bid to Real Madrid for their out-of-favour Colombian international James Rodriguez but many of our resident Red Devils are still sceptical whether a move as big as this will take place in the remaining days of January.
Still out of favour under the new Zinedine Zidane regime at the Bernabeu, James’ performances at the 2014 World Cup will be a distant memory for the player himself now who hasn’t totally been a hit in the most expectant surroundings in world football with Los Blancos.
A star at Monaco, James’ hasn’t really handled the step up in class as well as expected but make no mistake; the player is still an incredible talent.
With United having turned to the Bernabeu more often than not in the recent past following the signing of Angel Di Maria and the club’s interest in Sergio Ramos in the summer, who knows, James could be another big name arrival from Spain.
Romelu Lukaku
To be quite honest, we can actually believe the tabloids that Everton are indeed holding out for £65 million for their prized asset of a striker Romelu Lukaku given how they’ve dug their heels in so well down the years.
With Chelsea getting nowhere in pursuit of John Stones in the summer, not to mention failed swoops for both Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman in the past, the Toffees drive a hard bargain in the transfer window and that’s why we just can’t see this deal happening this month.
The summer window usually heralds the bigger moves and if United are to continue their free spending ways, perhaps a transfer for silly money regarding Lukaku can take place then but make no mistake, he’s a top striker who will surely scale heights bigger than Everton in the coming years.
